AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The recorded data splits these two cards along predictable lines, but the split is heavily lopsided. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER takes nine of the ten head-to-head benchmark wins. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT takes exactly one, and it is a narrow one at that.

The single AMD victory comes in Passmark G2D, the 2D graphics and desktop composition test. The RX 5600 XT scores 870 against 854 for the RTX 2060 SUPER, a delta of 1.9 percent. That is a real but small margin, and it mostly matters for desktop rendering, video playback acceleration, and other non-3D workloads. If a build is purely about 2D interface responsiveness, the AMD card has a slight edge in the database, but the difference is unlikely to be perceptible in normal use.

Every other recorded test favors the RTX 2060 SUPER. The biggest NVIDIA margin is in Passmark DirectX 10, where it scores 111 against 73, a 34.2 percent advantage. That is a legacy API test, but it shows how far ahead the NVIDIA card is in certain older DirectX paths. The Geekbench Vulkan result is also heavily NVIDIA-favored: 77402 versus 56218, a 27.4 percent gap. This matters for modern cross-platform games and compute workloads that use Vulkan. The Passmark DirectX 11 result shows a 26.2 percent lead (130 versus 96), which covers a huge library of current and recent games. The Passmark G3D score favors NVIDIA by 18.3 percent (16462 versus 13457), and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result favors NVIDIA by 17 percent (2011 versus 1669). Even where the gap is smaller, such as Passmark GPU Compute at 6.3 percent (6721 versus 6296) and Geekbench OpenCL at 10.9 percent (76957 versus 68537), NVIDIA still leads.

So the use-case split is straightforward: the RX 5600 XT wins only the 2D desktop test by a hair, while the RTX 2060 SUPER wins every meaningful 3D and compute benchmark, often by double digits. For gaming, rendering, or GPGPU work, the data points squarely at the NVIDIA card.

The Verdict

The verdict from the data is clear. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the stronger card in almost every recorded workload. Its average benchmark score across the database is 18093, which places it at the 62nd percentile of all GPUs. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT has a higher average benchmark score of 20713 and sits at the 66th percentile, but that overall average includes its Geekbench Metal result of 80376, a test that the RTX 2060 SUPER does not appear to have recorded. When comparing only the shared head-to-head tests, NVIDIA wins nine out of ten.

Who should pick the RX 5600 XT? Only a builder who prioritizes the single 2D test win, or who is constrained by the card's lower 150 W TDP versus 175 W for NVIDIA, and the smaller 6 GB memory buffer. The AMD card also uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while NVIDIA uses PCIe 3.0 x16, which can matter on newer platforms, though the benchmark data does not show a clear advantage from that interface in these tests.

Who should pick the RTX 2060 SUPER? Anyone who wants the faster card in DirectX 9, 10, 11, 12, Vulkan, OpenCL, 3DMark Steel Nomad, and overall 3D performance. It also offers 8 GB of memory versus 6 GB, a 256-bit bus versus 192-bit, and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth versus 288.0 GB/s. It is the card with the higher boost clock, the larger die, and the dedicated RT and tensor cores. The data does not support choosing the AMD card for 3D workloads.

The launch MSRP of the RX 5600 XT was 279 USD, and the launch MSRP of the RTX 2060 SUPER was 399 USD.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The largest NVIDIA win is Passmark DirectX 10. The RTX 2060 SUPER scores 111, the RX 5600 XT scores 73, a 34.2 percent difference. This is the kind of result that shows up in older games and legacy applications, and it is not a close contest.

The second-largest gap is in Geekbench Vulkan. NVIDIA scores 77402, AMD scores 56218, a 27.4 percent lead. Vulkan is increasingly common in modern game engines, so this is not an academic difference. It translates directly to frame rate headroom in Vulkan-based titles.

Passmark DirectX 11 shows a 26.2 percent NVIDIA lead: 130 versus 96. DirectX 11 remains the baseline for a massive catalog of games, so this is arguably the most practically important result on the list. The Passmark G3D score, an aggregate 3D performance metric, gives NVIDIA an 18.3 percent advantage (16462 versus 13457), confirming that the DX11 result is not an outlier.

3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 favors NVIDIA by 17 percent: 2011 versus 1669. This is a modern DX12 test, and while the gap is smaller than the DX10 and Vulkan gaps, it is still substantial. Passmark DirectX 12 shows a 14.8 percent lead (61 versus 52), which is consistent with the Steel Nomad result.

Geekbench OpenCL gives NVIDIA a 10.9 percent lead: 76957 versus 68537. This matters for compute workloads that rely on OpenCL. Passmark GPU Compute shows a smaller 6.3 percent NVIDIA lead: 6721 versus 6296. The compute gap is real but narrower than the graphics gap, suggesting that the AMD card's compute performance is relatively closer to NVIDIA's than its rasterization performance is.

Passmark DirectX 9 is the closest 3D result: NVIDIA scores 218, AMD scores 202, a 7.3 percent lead. Even in an ancient API, NVIDIA wins.

The only AMD win is Passmark G2D: 870 versus 854, a 1.9 percent margin. It is the smallest delta on the entire list, and it is the only test where the RX 5600 XT comes out ahead.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins more benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER wins 9 of the 10 head-to-head tests. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT wins only Passmark G2D.

Q: What is the biggest performance gap between the two cards?

A: The largest delta is in Passmark DirectX 10, where the RTX 2060 SUPER leads by 34.2 percent (111 versus 73). The second largest is Geekbench Vulkan at 27.4 percent (77402 versus 56218).

Q: How do the cards compare in modern DirectX 12 workloads?

A: In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RTX 2060 SUPER scores 2011 against 1669, a 17 percent lead. In Passmark DirectX 12, it scores 61 against 52, a 14.8 percent lead.

Q: Is the RX 5600 XT better at any compute task?

A: The RX 5600 XT does not win any compute test in the database. It loses Geekbench OpenCL by 10.9 percent and Passmark GPU Compute by 6.3 percent.

Q: How much memory does each card have?

A: The RX 5600 XT has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 2060 SUPER has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each card?

A: The RX 5600 XT has an average benchmark score of 20713 and sits at the 66th percentile of all GPUs. The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 18093 and sits at the 62nd percentile. However, the RX 5600 XT's average includes a Geekbench Metal score of 80376 that the RTX 2060 SUPER does not have recorded.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different architectural generations. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT uses the Navi 10 chip built on RDNA 1.0 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER uses the TU106 chip built on Turing architecture, fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC.

The process difference is significant. AMD's 7 nm node allows a much smaller die: 251 mm² versus 445 mm² for NVIDIA. The transistor counts are close, 10,300 million for AMD and 10,800 million for NVIDIA, but the density is very different. AMD packs 41.0 million transistors per square millimeter, while NVIDIA manages 24.3 million. That means AMD achieves similar transistor counts on nearly half the silicon area.

The chip layouts differ in compute resources. The RX 5600 XT has 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operations units. The RTX 2060 SUPER has 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. So AMD has more raw shader and TMU count, but NVIDIA has a higher boost clock, which helps close the gap.

The defining architectural difference is NVIDIA's dedicated hardware. The RTX 2060 SUPER includes 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores. The RX 5600 XT has no RT cores and no tensor cores. This means the NVIDIA card has hardware acceleration for ray tracing and AI workloads, while the AMD card relies on general-purpose shader compute for those tasks. The API support reflects this: NVIDIA supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while AMD supports DirectX 12 (12_1).

The memory architectures also differ. Both use GDDR6, but NVIDIA uses a wider 256-bit bus versus AMD's 192-bit bus, and NVIDIA runs its memory at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) versus AMD's 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). The result is 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth for NVIDIA versus 288.0 GB/s for AMD.

Specification Differences

The recorded specifications show clear differences in nearly every category.

Process and die: AMD uses a 7 nm process with a 251 mm² die and 10,300 million transistors. NVIDIA uses a 12 nm process with a 445 mm² die and 10,800 million transistors. Transistor density is 41.0M per mm² for AMD and 24.3M per mm² for NVIDIA.

Clocks: The RX 5600 XT has a base clock of 1130 MHz, a boost clock of 1560 MHz, and a game clock of 1375 MHz. The RTX 2060 SUPER has a base clock of 1470 MHz and a boost clock of 1650 MHz, with no game clock listed.

Memory: The RX 5600 XT has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth and 12 Gbps effective speed. The RTX 2060 SUPER has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 14 Gbps effective speed.

Compute units: The RX 5600 XT has 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RTX 2060 SUPER has 2176 shading units, 136 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The RTX 2060 SUPER adds 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, which the RX 5600 XT lacks.

Performance rates: The RX 5600 XT achieves 99.84 GPixel/s pixel rate, 224.6 GTexel/s texture rate, and 7.188 TFLOPS FP32. The RTX 2060 SUPER achieves 105.6 GPixel/s, 224.4 GTexel/s, and 7.181 TFLOPS FP32. FP16 rates are 14.38 TFLOPS for AMD and 14.36 TFLOPS for NVIDIA, both at a 2:1 ratio.

Power and physical: The RX 5600 XT has a 150 W TDP, while the RTX 2060 SUPER has a 175 W TDP. Both are dual-slot cards with a single 8-pin power connector and a 450 W suggested PSU. The RX 5600 XT is 267 mm long (10.5 inches). The RTX 2060 SUPER is 229 mm long (9 inches), 113 mm high (4.4 inches), and 35 mm wide (1.4 inches).

Connectivity: The RX 5600 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x16 and outputs 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The RTX 2060 SUPER uses PCIe 3.0 x16 and outputs 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a, and 1x USB Type-C.

API support: Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. They differ in DirectX: the RX 5600 XT supports DirectX 12 (12_1), while the RTX 2060 SUPER supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2).

Release timing: The RTX 2060 SUPER was released on 2019-07-08. The RX 5600 XT was released on 2020-01-20. Both are end-of-life products. The RTX 2060 SUPER's predecessor is GeForce 10 and its successor is GeForce 30. The RX 5600 XT's predecessor is Vega and its successor is Navi II.